After a challenging slate of games against the Brahmas, the Jr. Stars found themselves in another tough matchup this past week against the RoadRunners. In their final home series of 2021, the Jr. Stars fell to the RoadRunners in all three contests, with each game being more competitive and physical than the last.
Friday’s game saw the RoadRunners dominate from the opening puck drop as they found the back of the net four times by the end of the first period. From then, the RoadRunners never took their foot off the gas and came away with an 8-0 victory.
Seven different Roadrunners came away with goals, Tyler Love, Tyler Singpradith, Samuel Bourdon, Jaron Ketterman, Derek Boutin, Tim Marisco, and Jack Herron, netting two goals. Jr. Stars goaltender Robert Sullivan made his NA3HL debut on Friday night. After giving up the third goal in the first period, Adler Hoagland came in for relief, ending Sullivan’s night early and ending his debut.
In the pregame interview before Saturday, Assistant Coach Drew Lind spoke about accountability needing to come from all five players on the ice before the puck reaches the net. Lind commended the Mid-Cities goaltenders for staying tough between the pipes after seeing the amount of rubber they’ve faced in the last several games.
Saturday’s matchup saw a significantly better effort offensively. With goals scored by Ilnur Madiarov, Michael Kennedy, Easton Walters, and two from Colton Sebastian. However, the Jr. Stars struggled in their zone, and the RoadRunners routed the Jr. Stars in an 11-5 loss. RoadRunners forward Tyler Love continued his dominant season with a hat trick in game two and ended the night with four points.
Sunday was the best complete game the Jr. Stars played on both ends of the ice. However, it wasn’t good enough to close out the series with a win, as the RoadRunners ended up with a 5-3 win. RoadRunners forward Tim Marsico capped off his team’s weekend with a hat trick. Derek Boutin and Samuel Bourdon also got their names on the score sheet.
On the flip side, Jr. Stars goals were scored by Issac Fuller, Michael Kennedy, and Ilnur Madiarov. Madiarov continues to be the team’s points leader with an exceptional 23 points in 18 games played.
The Jr. Stars are 5-13-0-0 and sit sixth in the NA3HL south division with ten points. This weekend will see the team heading up to Duluth Ice Forum in Duluth, Georgia, to take on the struggling Capitals November 19th – 21st Friday’s puck drop Friday night is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. est.